1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to the field of mail sorters.
2. Description of Related Art
Private mailers use Barcode Reading (BCR) sorting machines to read pre-barcoded mailpieces and sort them according to a user generated sort plan. Alternatively, private mailers use Multi-Line Optical Character Reading (MLOCR) sorting machines to read mailpiece address blocks, perform USPS Zone Improvement Plan (ZIP+4®) Directory Lookup, spray and verify the lookup result as a barcode, and sort the mail according to a user generated sort plan. For performing this service, private mailers receive postage discounts based upon qualified mail ZIP Code separations and mail volume. Since the number of ZIP Code destinations in the postal system far exceeds the number of separations possible on a sorting machine or across the limited number of sorting machine operated by a private mailer, the efficiency of the user generated sort plan has a large impact on the labor and material costs required to process a mailing and on the postal discount achieved. Using the user generated sort plan, the sorters finalize mail to as many direct ZIP Code destinations as practical in a single pass, while a portion of the bins receive mail to multiple ZIP Codes that must be separated by reprocessing on subsequent passes to achieve the desired level of postal discount.
With each mailing submittal to the Post Office, private mailers generate mailing data that accurately records the mail ZIP Code separations, mail volumes, and postal discounts achieved. One may manually analyze the performance of previous mailings for specific days, weeks, or date ranges of interest in order to improve the quality of the user generated sort plans based upon past mail processing performance. However, manual analysis of past mail processing performance is very subjective, is very time consuming, and potentially offers a very limited number of benefits.
Referring to FIG. 1 in the drawings, a schematic of a conventional planed sorter is illustrated. A typical system 100 to sort mail includes a sort house 101 and various mail generators 102, 103, 104. A sort house 101 is a facility that takes raw mail in to sort into various groupings based upon things such as zip codes and type of mailings. Sort house 101 can provide mail generators, such as mail generator 102, mail generator 103, and mail generator 104, discounts to combine mail streams and sort mail by zip codes. For example, mail generator 102 could be a retailer with a set of catalogs 106. Mail generator 103 could be a credit card company sending credit card statements 107. Mail generator 104 could be a print shop mailing out coupons 108. Typically, sort house 101 includes a sorter 105 and a mail set 109. Mail set 109 is typically comprised of various mail sets 106, 107 and 108 from different mail generators 102, 103, and 108. The sorter 105 processes the mail set 109 based upon the instructions provided in the sort plan 115. Sort plan 115 is generated by a user and typically designates the sorter 105 to sort the mail set 109 based upon widely used zip codes. Sort plan 115 does not change to reflect the composition of the mail set 115. For example sort plan 115 tells the sorter 105 to group certain mailings into certain bins based upon zip codes. There are a limited number of bins, such as bin 121, bin 123, and bin 125 in the sorter 105, sorted mail than does not end up in a bin will be grouped together in a separate holding bin. The more inefficient the sort plan 115, the more likely mail will end up in the holding bin. If the amount of mail in the holding bin is too great the mail in the holding bin will be passed through the sorter 105 in a second pass to further sort the mail. Second passes wastes time and resources.
Although great strides have been made in the area of mail processing, considerable shortcomings remain.
While the system and method of the present application is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof have been shown by way of example in the drawings and are herein described in detail. It should be understood, however, that the description herein of specific embodiments is not intended to limit the invention to the particular embodiment disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the present application as defined by the appended claims.